


The Cherry Tree by the Pond

by abrandnewheart



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Meet-Cute, Park date, feeding ducks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:48:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26321425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abrandnewheart/pseuds/abrandnewheart
Summary: Sharp eyes whip to the side. Kaname looks away. He pulls out his phone and curses under his breath. Running late. They’re running late, and Kaname has shown up early, and so now he has to sit in an awkward silence with this weirdly intense stranger even longer.He’s fine. He’s fine, he’s so fine. It’s his birthday and he’s fine.~Or, Moniwa goes to the park, feeds some ducks and meets a handsome stranger.(Happy birthday Moniwa!)
Relationships: Moniwa Kaname/Sakusa Kiyoomi
Comments: 8
Kudos: 30





	The Cherry Tree by the Pond

**Author's Note:**

> Happy birthday Moniwa! I definitely didn’t forget until it was already today. 
> 
> Beta-read by [spiritscript](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spiritscript/pseuds/Spiritscript)

Birthdays sort of stopped being special once you had a certain number of them, Kaname supposed. As a child, a year felt like an impossibly long amount of time, but by 25, what was another year? Sure, there were milestones, and it was always good fun to acknowledge another orbit around the sun, but… at some point, birthdays stopped feeling like genuinely fun days of the year. 

He still had to go to work. He still had bills to pay. He still had to check in on his mother to make sure that she was okay. It was just the nature of getting older, he decided. Birthdays were exciting as a child because it was a day all about him and there were no responsibilities. And as an adult, there weren’t even half the number of people who cared, the day was never _really_ about him, and responsibilities still existed. What had he even done on his birthday last year? Gone to work and had a drink with some colleagues after? Or maybe that was the year before. All the birthdays that came before just blended together into one extended birthday memory after a while. 

So it wasn’t that he disliked birthdays; it was just that it took way more effort to make them memorable now.

Which was why, when a couple of old friends arranged a picnic in a local park and hassled him until he took the day off work—it already felt far more special than his last few birthdays. 

The instructions from Yasushi were pretty clear and not the kind that Kaname was in any mood to argue with: meet under the cherry tree by the pond at midday. Super simple. 

Except when Kaname showed up, there was someone already sitting there, one knee pulled up to his chest, lazily tossing chunks of bread to ducks on the lake. 

He was pretty, or what Kaname could see of him was, for his lower face was covered by a mask. He wasn’t looking in Kaname’s direction, no, he was paying attention to brightly coloured ducks instead. He was shaded by the tree, like he was supposed to be sat there, like some kind of otherworldly, ethereal being, like he wasn’t from this plane of existence at all—

“Can I help you?” 

Kaname is yanked back to reality, and he manages a bashful smile as he rubs at the back of his head. “I’m just waiting for some friends,” He says. “They said to meet here. I’m so sorry, it won’t be long, and then we’ll get out of your way-“

But the man shrugs his shoulders. “Sit, if you want.” 

Kaname sits against the tree trunk, folding his legs underneath him in an effort to make himself small; but he already _feels_ small. It was hard not to when the person right there was clearly a half-foot taller than him. 

Kaname watches and wonders if the stranger knows he’s being looked at. If he does, he doesn’t show it, not in the curve of his shoulders or the crinkle of his eyebrows and—

Sharp eyes whip to the side. Kaname looks away. He pulls out his phone and curses under his breath. Running late. They’re running late, and Kaname has shown up early, and so now he has to sit in an awkward silence with this weirdly intense stranger even longer. 

He’s fine. He’s fine, he’s so fine. It’s his birthday and he’s fine. 

He scans the lake. Clusters of ducks that he doesn’t really know the names of are the only things disturbing the water, for today is calm and bright. He knows he’s gotten lucky with the weather. 

Half a bag of bread gets shaken in his direction, and Kaname furrows his eyebrows as he looks up. 

“You could feed the ducks too, if you want.” 

Kaname nods, and reaches in for a slice of bread. It’s not the best thing to feed ducks, and he knows this, but it’s hard for him to feel guilty when he tosses small segments out at the edge of the lake and hears what he assumes are happy quacks. 

Mallards, he thinks, with green heads and yellow bills. Males, then, because the females in any species are usually darker in colour. 

He doesn’t think too long about it, for another duck is waddling towards them. It’s brightly coloured, almost ornamental. A pink beak; a blue-green stripe stretching from the top of its beak up between its eyes and down the back of its head; purple plumage across its breast; brown plumage elsewhere, so bright it could almost be called orange. 

It’s beautiful. There are so many colours that Kaname doesn’t actually think it’s real; he’s only seen creatures like this in books. 

He tosses some bread towards it and it waddles closer. It doesn’t seem to be scared of the two of them. 

The stranger crumbles some bread in his hand and offers it, outstretched, towards the duck. Kaname isn’t sure why he’s surprised when the duck pads over and pecks the crumbs right out of the man’s hands. There is so much about him that isn’t real already; is it really such a surprise that he can get a duck to eat from his hand?

“These ones are called Mandarins,” The man’s voice is low, like if he talks too loud the duck might flee. “They’re my favourites.”

“I can see why,” Kaname nods. They’re pretty. He’d hang a picture of one of them on his wall. “They’re so colourful.”

They fall quiet. The Mandarin pads away, and Kaname returns to watching the other ducks paddle. It really is peaceful here. It’s a good spot for a picnic. 

“Sakusa Kiyoomi.”

Kaname turns his head. The other man had definitely spoken just now. Right?

“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that.”

“My name. Sakusa Kiyoomi.” 

Kaname nods and flashes a bright smile. “Moniwa Kaname. You come here often?”

It’s only after the words are out that he realises how much that sounds like a pick-up line. 

“Something like that.”

Kaname thinks that’s a very vague answer. He opens his mouth to ask Sakusa to elaborate—

Unfortunately, he doesn’t get a chance to ask anything further, for he’s interrupted by a call of, “Oi! Kaname! Happy birthday!” and two of his closest friends practically running towards him. 

He gets to his feet, with one last look back at Sakusa. 

“Happy birthday, Moniwa.”

Kaname nods, mumbles a word of thanks and hurries off to meet his friends halfway.

He’d rather not have to explain the hot stranger, or how they’d briefly fed ducks together, or how he thinks maybe Sakusa isn’t even from this planet. 

Kaname steals one last glance back at Sakusa as the group leaves to find a new place to sit and eat cake and sandwiches. He makes a mental note to come back here more often, to sit under that tree and to throw food to the ducks.

He thinks maybe this birthday will be memorable after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I really appreciate it 💕 
> 
> Give me a follow over on twitter at [abrandnewheart](https://twitter.com/abrandnewheart) if you want to keep up with my other works!


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